NHCP declares Rizal Memorial Sports Complex as a National Historical Landmark

The National Historical Commission of the Philippines (NHCP) on March 27 officially declared the Rizal Memorial Sports Complex a National Historical Landmark.

The new designation places the historic sports complex under the protection of Republic Act No. 10066, which prohibits the destruction, mutilation, or demolition of the country's cultural properties.

The Rizal Memorial Sports Complex, designed by Juan Arellano of the Bureau of Public Works, was erected in 1934, in time for the 10th Far Eastern Games.

This was also the venue of the first and only Beatles concert in the Philippines in 1966.

Manila City Mayor Joseph Estrada in December 2016 floated the idea of converting the landmark into a commercial center. Estrada proposed the relocation of the sports complex to Zambales, in time for the 2019 Southeast Asian Games (SEA Games).

The NHCP countered the plan by declaring the structure an Important Cultural Property in the same month.

The NHCP and the National Commission for Culture and the Arts have successfully protected and restored some of the country's cultural structures such as the Luneta Hotel, but other conservationist group have been fighting uphill battles.

The Palanca mansion in Pasay was recently demolished to make way for a condominium development despite strong opposition from the Heritage Conservation Society and just this week, the Supreme Court dismissed the petition filed by the Order of the Knights of Rizal to stop the construction of the Torre de Manila, which they claim is ruining the sightline of the Rizal Monument. —ALG, GMA News